Pakistan launched a strong rebuttal against India at the United Nations, exposing what it called New Delhi’s “recycled script of distortions” over Jammu and Kashmir.
Speaking at the 4th Committee Meeting on the Decolonisation Items, Asif Khan, a diplomat from Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the UN, said India’s attempts to mislead the world on the status of the disputed territory had failed to conceal the reality of its occupation and abuses.
“I am compelled to take the floor to respond to the disinformation-laden remarks of the representative of India. Each year, India comes to this august forum with a recycled script of distortions. Today is no different,” Khan said, opening his statement.
He asserted that “the United Nations has not only the right, but the obligation to discuss the Jammu and Kashmir dispute,” adding that the territory “has never been an integral part of India” and remains “an internationally recognised disputed territory whose final status is to be determined through a free and impartial plebiscite under the auspices of the United Nations.”
Khan reminded the forum that “India itself had brought the matter to the Council, yet now refuses to honour its solemn commitments under international law and the Charter of the United Nations.”
Referring to the 1960 Declaration, he said it “decrees that ‘all peoples’ under alien subjugation have the right to self-determination” — a right also embedded in the UN Charter and key international covenants.
Highlighting the scale of Indian militarisation in the region, he said, “In occupied Jammu and Kashmir, India maintains one of the densest military occupations in the world, deploying nearly 900,000 troops against an unarmed civilian population.”
He accused India of “branding the just struggle of the people of Jammu & Kashmir as terrorism” while refusing to “introspect to find the real reasons behind the mass resistance in the occupied territory.”
“India’s backtracking from its obligations under the UNSC resolutions, its intransigence in denying the Kashmiri people their fundamental rights, extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, mass incarcerations, sexual violence, and demographic engineering are the real reasons for the indigenous freedom movement,” he said.
“Since August 2019, India has accelerated its settler-colonial project in flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention.”
Khan also charged that India “seeks to deflect attention from its own notorious conduct, rogue behaviour and perpetration of terrorism,” calling it “the principal sponsor of state terrorism in the region with a dubious distinction of extraterritorial assassinations.”
He accused India of financing and directing “terrorist proxies such as TTP, BLA, and the Majeed Brigade, whose attacks have killed thousands of innocent civilians in Pakistan.”
He described India’s claim to be the world’s largest democracy as “hollow,” saying it had become “the world’s largest producer of disinformation and intolerance.”
He said the ruling RSS-BJP ideology had “institutionalised Islamophobia and turned persecution of minorities into state policy,” adding that “numerous international human rights organisations continue to document India’s systematic abuses.”
Warning of the dangers to peace, Khan said India’s “reckless behaviour has endangered regional security,” referring to “unprovoked aggression against Pakistan earlier this year targeting civilians, including women and children.”
“Pakistan exercised its inherent right to self-defence under Article 51 of the UN Charter, responding in a measured manner aimed solely at military targets,” he noted, adding that “India suffered significant losses, including multiple aircraft downed.”
He concluded that “India’s denials and distortions cannot erase the simple truth: Jammu and Kashmir remains a disputed territory.”
“The people of Kashmir have waited for over seven decades to exercise their UN-mandated right to self-determination,” Khan said. “Pakistan will continue to expose India’s hypocrisy, oppose its state terrorism, and support the Kashmiri people’s just and legitimate struggle for justice, dignity, and freedom.”